Congratuations to all three of you and also a big thanks to everyone who entered this year. If you'd like to know your score then please contact Jamie.
As you know, this was Jamie's last month running the competition so a huge thank you to him from everyone at the forum. He's run the competition brilliantly and I'm sure you'll agree it's been a big success.
There will be no January competition this year but hopefully we should have something sorted for February.
We've just moved to rural mid Wales and there's a staggering amount of bird-life here, compared to our previous address in Berkshire.
Normally I can identify most birds with the help of the RSPB handbook, but I've spotted one today that I can't quite pin down.
It resembles a Mistle thrush in size and beak shape, but the markings are not right. The nearest I can get in the handbook is an Ouzel, but t it has no ring.
Can anyone identify it from this rather poor grab-shot?
Another new member with a query. I live on the island of Barra in the Western Isles. To day while walking on the beach I came across two finch sized and shaped birds sheltering from a gale on the ground in marram grass. I had neither bonoculars nor a camera to hand so I have no photo. Is there anyone here willing to suggest what they might have been.
Overall the birds were very light in colour, having largely white or light grey feathers, but also showing some dark areas. When they flew it was clear the upper sides of the wings were largely white, the rump and backs were dark, possibly black. It was difficult to tell the head colour as they didn't seem to trust me to get close!
The closest identification I would see in books was a snow bunting, which seems to me to be alittle unilkely.
Without seeing a picture, it's hard to say, but @ a guess they do sound like Snow Buntings & it's not so unlikely either. Snow Bunting are spotted in Scotland & considering the weather these days they could quite easily have been blown onto your beach, you did say that they were sheltering from a gale!
Sue
This post was last modified: 21-11-2009 07:56 PM by Wildthingz.
Without seeing a picture, it's hard to say, but @ a guess they do sound like Snow Buntings & it's not so unlikely either. Snow Bunting are spotted in Scotland & considering the weather these days they could quite easily have been blown onto your beach, you did say that they were sheltering from a gale!
Hi. Gerard.
If they looked like these birds [ male & female ] then they are snowbuntings.. you normally get them in groups, when they fly off, you will see the white of their wings, these two were in the north islands [shetland] hope the picture can help you ID them..
Without seeing a picture, it's hard to say, but @ a guess they do sound like Snow Buntings & it's not so unlikely either. Snow Bunting are spotted in Scotland & considering the weather these days they could quite easily have been blown onto your beach, you did say that they were sheltering from a gale!
Sue
Thanks for the welcome Sue.
Yes, they were sheltering and when I got close would skip maybe 10m before getting out of the wind. I moved them on a couple of times before becoming convinced that they did not fit with any of our local residents or regular visitors. I then left them in peace. Lots of redwing, snipe and curlew here at present. Still fairly windy this morning.
Apologies, I thought I had posted a reply earlier today but must have made a mess of it.
Back to the birds. Firstly, cracking photos. Based on these and the lack of alternative candidates, it looks like I saw snow buntings. Strange as it seems, finding them in marram grass at sea level in a gale. I have previously seen snow buntings in more mountainous surroundings, didn't expect to see them on the shore.
Snow Buntings are common enough in winter and can more often be found on coastal areas.
If you visit Whitby on the north east coast for example, a walk along the cliffs above the beach you can often come across flocks of them feeding in the short cliff grass.
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